Every true believer must be prepared
to be of service to Allah. This is clearly expressed during the Haj; as the
Pilgrim leaves the whole world behind and journey to the Kaba, with very
little.
There, he or she chants; here I am at Your service, O Allah, here I
am at Your service. Surely, all Praise and blessings are for You. There is no
partner with You.
Allah says about the true believers
the following:
Surely, those who are with the Lord
are not too proud to serve Him. (7:206)
Allah prefers those who strive hard
and fight, above those who sit (at home); by a huge reward. (4:95)
One way of serving Allah is to serve
mankind. This is well established in the Hadith, part of which is as follows:
(Allah will say to a person on that
Day) O son of Adam, I asked you for food, and you fed Me not. The man will say:
O Lord of the Worlds, how should I feed You when You are Lord of the Worlds? He
(Allah) will say: Did you not know that My servant, so and so asked you for
food, and you did not feed him; did you not know that if you did feed him you
would have fed Me? (Muslim)
Service to humanity must be done out
of pure love for Allah, and with no other motive in mind. Allah tells us about
this in the following verses of the Holy Qur’an:
And they feed, for the love of Allah,
the needy, the orphan, and the captive. (They say to themselves) we feed you
for the sake of Allah alone; We do not desire any reward from you, nor thanks.
(76:8-9)
One must be prepared to serve Allah
with pleasure, either on a personal level or in the community. If he finds that
the community out of satisfaction expresses praise on him, he should be careful
and be humble; as this may make him feel a bit of arrogance which can be a
dangerous thing.
Service to Allah, and for the sake of Allah is
the way to success in this life and in the next. Allah says:
And of them (human beings) are some
who are, by Allah’s leave, foremost in good deeds. That is indeed a great
grace. Paradise, Eden, will they enter.(35:32-33)
May Allah give us the will and
strength to serve Him dedicatedly in worship and in our interaction with
others.
